IN THE NAME OF LIBERTY

The Royal house was on tension and Valerian returned to his room furious and also betrayed.

"It shall all be fine." Gerald tried to calm Valerian down.

"No." Valerian said as he continued to cry on his bed.

He had never sobbed that much in a very long time.

"I am certain that it will all be alright." Gerald said.

"Not at all, I wonder why I have been fighting for him all this long, I tried to give him something to be proud of.

It seems that at the moment, nothing in this Kingdom will change, as I feared, my husband will be a tyrannical King like his father." Valerian said.

"Calm down." Gerald said.

"You can not tell me that." Valerian said.

"I can not calm down when everything that I had strived so much to build today I watched crumble.

All of it getting shattered into pieces at the hands of no stranger but my very own husband." Valerian said.

"There is disappointment, it is part of this life." Gerald said as he pulled Valerian into a hug.

Valerian pulled away and stood up as he removed all his jewelry and tossed it away in a fit of rage.

"He is so ungrateful." Valerian said.

"Just forget about it." Gerald said.

"I can not, there is nothing that hurts more than wasted labour." Valerian said.

He was still speaking when the bedroom door was flung open.

The two turned and faced it's direction and it was the King who darkened the doorway.

"I will take your leave your Majesty." Gerald said.

"Of course." Alexander replied and Gerald walked out.

Valerian turned around to walk out with Gerald.

"You won't go anywhere." Alexander commanded.

"What now, I can't move around the palace anymore?" Valerian asked.

"I am your husband and King, you can not walk away from me unless I tell you to." Alexander said.

"Then you can take me as your Prisoner, after all it is no different from being your Queen." Valerian said.

"Watch how you speak to me, you of all people should know that we are not really equals." Alexander said.

"After all, I never really was to say or express in the first place your Majesty.

All I can do is wear makeup, jewelry and dresses, nothing more and nothing less.

I can only show my presence whether I want it or not, I hope that you can finally govern and rule the way you want.

I shall give you what you want, an heir to keep your name and your throne.

I had no idea that through prevailing in your political life, I was simply causing more harm than good.

Thank you for reminding me your Majesty, I am only a male mistress of this house and I shall work up to that." Valerian said as he continued to walk past Alexander.

"Where are you going?" Alexander asked.

"I think that we need some time apart and I am not feeling well at the moment.

I wouldn't want to get excited and end up harming myself, I have to remain alive and it shall only happen if I am calm.

Of you want to confine me in this room I can assure you nothing good will come out of it." Valerian said and he walked away.

Alexander did not bother stopping him at all and shortly after Valerian had left, he noticed all the jewelry was a mess.

He looked over and noticed a part of the pillow with a dark patch probably from Valerian's tears.

It was not long before news of what had happened to the Queen spread throughout the Kingdom.

There was a notice that was being pinned throughout the Kingdom with the King's seal.

The masses gathered at all different points to read what it was that was written on all of them.

            THE KING'S NOTICE

It is hereby his Majesty's declaration that with immediate effect, his Royal Majesty the Queen Valerian has been stripped of his powers and shall no more be a Commander in chief of the armed forces.

Similarly, the Women's military front has been expelled from operating  all as a result of being initiated without the King's consent.

This is the King's order and word and the King's word is law.

Signed by,

His Royal Majesty

The King Alexander.

"This is a disaster." The people said.

"This can not be happening." The people began to comment.

"What happened all of a sudden?" The women asked amongst themselves.

"Much as he did that he did not deserve such a vast punishment." The people said.

"He stood up for us against the Darians, was this the best way they could reward him?" The people asked.

"This is unfair for us and for him." The people said.

Upheaval erupted in not less that twenty four hours after the notice was issued.

In the meantime, Valerian was staring at the buildings outside the palace gates through his bedroom window.

It was dark and silent, not even Gerald was there so Valerian's isolation was complete.

He could hear loud enough bustles from the street and a few of the keen watchers noticed him in a black and white velvet dress behind curtains.

Valerian had to hide his face once in a while and it was clear to the people that their Queen was uncomfortable.

There was a common man who was well known amongst the people.

He went by the name of Mr. Pierce and he was a regular farmer.

One day, he stood in the city square, a couple of metres away from the Royal residence.

"Gather around." He said to the people and attracted the attention of the masses.

The majority drew near and a few other simply watched from the windows of their surrounding buildings and where they were.

"This law is unfair." The man said.

"How could they have our Queen thrown away?" He rhetorically asked as the masses murmured amongst themselves.

"What do you expect us to do?" Someone in the congregation asked.

"What to do?" Mr. Pierce asked.

"Yes." Another woman replied.

"We need to fight." Mr. Pierce said.

"Fight what?" The people murmured amongst themselves.

"Everything that our Queen has done was for our own good, if he can not be there to protect us who will?" Mr. Pierce said.

"Even if we fight, they won't listen to us at all, if we demonstrate we shall be rounded up by the army and the Royal guards." A person in the congregation said.

"Yes, it won't be of any use to us." Another said.

"We shall boycott all the Royalist goods until our Queen is freed.

We are the people and he gave us the liberty to choose our own paths and protect ourselves.

The least we can do to show our gratuity is by advocating for his own release from confinement.

We want our Queen to be restored, only then can we feel much safer in this country." Mr. Pierce said.

"Yes." The people backing the old man up shouted in approval.

In a short time, nearly the entire capital were thrown into a massive bandwagon and the first resistance was born.

When the following day dawned, all local markets effectively worked while the international markets were empty.

It did not take long for the news of the resistance to spread to other parts of the country.

In forty eight hours, the boycotting of the products had been effected immediately as the demonstrators in the streets carried banners around.

"RESTORE OUR QUEEN, HE IS OUR BEACON OF LIBERTY AND HOPE."

Many movements were staged in the capital itself that even from his office, Alexander heard it all.

"It seems the people are resisting." The Prime Minister said.

"What is the current status of the situation?" Alexander asked Charles.

"All the goods on our ports and those produced by the Royal farms and nobles have been boycotted.

It has been two days and no other markets have been operating except for the local markets." Charles replied.

"The situation is going out of hand your Majesty." The Prime Minister said.

"What is that you are telling me, it is not something that is too difficult to overcome." Alexander insisted.

"At this time, the people really are destroying all those Royalist markets, we must do something." Charles said.

"We let them think that the Crown is too soft." Alexander said.

"What should we do your Majesty?" The Prime Minister asked.

"What we should have done some days back." Alexander replied.

"What is that?" Charles asked.

"Dispatch an entire batallion of soldiers throughout the capital and foil the resistance here.

That way, we can be sure that other resistances across the country will die out eventually.

I want all the ring leaders in this uprising put behind bars." Alexander said.

"Very well your Majesty." The Prime Minister said.

"The only way to solve a problem is cutting it from it's root so that it does not crop up again." Alexander replied.

With Alexander's decree, a batallion was dispatched in the capital and in a week, all the chief and ring Leaders of the resistance were captured and thrown behind bars.

These were later charged with attempting to overthrow the government, tyranny and deemed guilty.

Three days after the arrest, for the first time in twenty five years, the resistors were beheaded and their heads were hung on the spikes that were part of the fence that surrounded the military barracks.

As predicted, the resistance was foiled and in other parts of the country, it slowly died out.

It was the first sign of liberalism that had occurred in the country in about a hundred years.

Valerian's life did not improve even once as he completely surrendered, the battle was lost either way.

His hopes were lost there and then and all that he could do was wait on a miracle.